Stuart Page, Freedom's maintenance supervisor, told the town board Wednesday night that he is concerned about running out of water in the water tower if firefighters battling rural grass fires refill their water tankers from a hydrant that depletes the town's water reserve.
He said that if the visiting firefighters would use water from a hydrant at Dusty Trail and Frontier streets, it won't affect the water tower level. The water tower services areas south of Frontier and west of the highway.
Also, many of the fire hydrants need to be repainted with proper colors on top. The top color indicates the water pressure available at the hydrant. Stuart was told to meet with Pebbles Luddington and Emergency Management about the re-painting matter.
Right now, the city dump is closed because of the burn ban. Page complained that some non-Freedom people have dumped items that greatly increased the size of the burn pile. Quite a bit of discussion was had about the problem, including wondering if out-of-town people could be denied use of the dump. The city ordinance says a daily dump pass can be purchased for $5 and a weekend pass for $10. The problem is that the town board would like the dumping of refuse supervised. The cost of supervision could be much more than the small fees collected. They decided to adhere to the ordinance schedule of dumping during working hours and paying cash at the city offices for the permit.
Board member Terry Smith talked about signage, including new banners to be hung from poles and the need for speed limit signs in some areas. Employee Bonnie Greer displayed four banner designs she had created. Each of these designs mentioned the rodeo. Board members suggested a more generic “Welcome to Freedom” theme that would be valid all year long. The rodeo event runs only about one week.
The board will have to return $3,773 in REAP Grant money. They did receive an award notice to purchase storm sirens and a backup generator in the amount of $19,500 from Storm Sirens Inc. of Norman. The returned money was proposed for video security cameras but was turned down because it was a different project.
A Teresita Thompson appeared before the board to ask for some additional time to pay her utility bill and could she write a post-dated check. Her daughter, Anastacia Jones, offered to come in the next day and pay $150 cash to help reduce the bill. The board instructed the town staff to work out payment arrangements. They thanked Thompson for coming in and meeting with them about the matter. Town secretary Dawn Wares said she had recently sent out about nine cut-off notices and some people responded and some did not.
Financially, the Town of Freedom has cash of $280,730.01 in various dedicated accounts. Bills paid as of March 14 totaled $6,765.
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